The Nanny (The Fabulous Dalton Boys Book 1) by Kirsten Osbourne Page A

Ash.  You could be a butt model."
    Ashley ignored her, walking out to the car where Kalee waited.  Ashley got into the back with Baby Steven and put him in the car seat.  She shook her head.  Not Steven.  Matt?  Daniel?
    On the short drive to town, she played with the baby's hand talking to him softly.  Brook stayed in the car with him at the notary, while Kalee and Ashley took care of business.
    Once they were back in the car, Kalee said, "I'll drop you guys at Wal-Mart and be back in thirty.  I need to fax this to the TV station."  Ashley knew she was talking about the station that was set to interview the men in a couple of weeks to help improve their image.
    At the store, she took Baby Randolph's carrier out of the car and snapped it into a cart.  Brook wandered along with her, happy to be shopping.  "Wal-Mart is the ghetto of stores, you know," she told Ashley.
    Ashley just nodded and headed back to the baby section, buying more diapers and a few cans of formula.  Brook had wandered off on her own, looking at baby clothes. Ashley didn't know why.  Probably because she'd rather look at clothes than anything else, even if they were baby clothes at Wal-Mart.
    When Ashley looked up to walk after picking up a couple of toys she thought the baby might enjoy, she found the aisle blocked by a platinum blonde.  "Hello," she said to MaryBeth, knowing the other woman must have heard the news of her marriage.
    "Who do you think you are?  Give me my baby."  Her hands were fisted at her sides, and she was obviously angry. 
    "He's not yours.  You signed away all rights to him," Ashley said easily, not wanting a confrontation with this woman, but not willing to back down from one either. 
    "I gave him to Barrett, knowing he would need me to come and care for him, and then you swoop in out of nowhere and think you're going to mother my child?  Not happening." 
    "He's mine now.  And Barrett's.  If you'll excuse me," Ashley tried to push the cart around the other woman, but she just moved to the other side of the aisle still blocking the way.  "This is harassment.  I will involve store management and even the police if I need to."
    "Go ahead.  Baby's mine."
    Ashley closed her eyes for a moment, trying to think of the best thing to do.  If she pulled her phone out and called the police, MaryBeth would really lose it.  Obviously the other woman had lost her mind.  "Look, I don't want to cause any problems.  I just need to get the baby home." She glanced down at Nathaniel and saw he was still sleeping, and she was thankful.  Loud voices tended to upset him, and his birth mother had no other volume.
    MaryBeth gripped the back of the cart, and Ashley wasn't certain if she meant to thrust it at her, or pull it away from her.  Either way, she was not willing to have a fight in the middle of Wal-Mart of all places.
    "Walk away from the baby.  He's mine."
    Ashley shook her head.  She loved that baby, and she wasn't giving him up for anything.  No, she hadn't given birth to him, but at that point, she'd spent more time with him than his own mother had.  "No, he's not."  She reached down to remove the carrier from the cart when she saw three tall males walk up behind MaryBeth.
    "You need to leave my wife alone," Barrett told MaryBeth.  "You gave up all rights to the baby, remember?"
    "I did it so you'd marry me!  I knew that you couldn't handle him on your own!"  Her voice was louder and even more upset as she yelled.
    The baby started to fidget, so Ashley unbuckled him from his car seat and picked him up, cradling him against her.  "It's all right, sweetheart."
    She walked the other way down the aisle, knowing Barrett would get the cart and follow.  She walked to the end of the aisle and sagged against a pole, thankful to see Brook coming toward her.  "You called them?"
    Brook nodded.  "I saw her block you, so I called Cage.  I didn't know what else to do."
    "Thank you."  Ashley'd had reservations about